Mind of a Killer
by Erythorbic
Summary: Jonathan finds some letters addressed to his wife from a mystery-man containing some personal information. Written in the style of Edgar Allen Poe.


I am alone. I lost everything because of my jealousy. How could I have been so foolish and hotheaded? I could have just asked her, but no. Now I am trapped here in this cold dark cell, left to ponder my crimes until my demise.  
  
I am writing this from my cell. Tomorrow I am to die for one of the worst mistakes that I have made in my short life. It all started about a year and a half ago when I was searching through my desk looking for a misplaced bill. While shuffling through the mountains of papers that had accumulated due to my lack of neatness, I came across a bunch of letters that were kept together by a rubber band. Not recognizing the bundle, I pulled a letter out and saw that it was addressed to my wife, Rose, and postmarked from someone named Jake R. Being curious, I opened the letter to see what it said. The contents, it seems, was a very personal letter about the life of that guy Jake R. Placing the letter back in the envelope, I flipped through the other ten letters and saw that they were addressed and postmarked in the same fashion as the first. Not wanting to arouse suspicion until I found out who Jake was, I quickly put the bundle back to where I found it and resumed searching for my missing bill.  
  
Over the next couple of weeks, my wife seemed to get more and more secretive. She would disappear for an hour or so during the week and also started to ask me what I knew, as though I should know something. If the questions weren't enough of a clue that there was something going on that I was unaware of, there was a look on her face that told me everything else I needed to know. Every time I walked into the same room she was in or went to ask her a question, I was met by a giggle and a blush, not to mention the glow that came to her face at the mere mention of our anniversary that was quickly coming up. I now had no doubt in my mind that I was out of the loop.  
  
On that faithful day during which I ruined my life, I went to visit Rose at her work while on my lunch break. It was one day before our wedding anniversary, and because she had said that she would be in a meeting all day tomorrow (also said with a stifled giggle), I decided to take her out for lunch to the restaurant in which I proposed to her. It was to my great surprise when her secretary told me that I had missed her by about a half of an hour.  
  
"Do you know where she went?" I asked slowly, knowing she possessed little to know intelligence.  
  
"Uh, yeah." she responded between chews of gum while filing her nails and without looking up. "She said that she would be going out to the park and that she'd have her cell phone on all day, Mr. W."  
  
"When will she be back?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Did she tell you which park?" I asked running my hands through my hair. I was starting to get frustrated by this high school drop out's knowledge.  
  
"How am I supposed to know? I'm only the secretary," she said with a snobbish air.  
  
And that is all you will be, I thought as I turned around to leave before I lost what little sanity I possessed.  
  
After searching the various parks around the area, I almost was ready to give up when I came to the last one in which she and I had met for the first time. I parked my car against the curb, got out, and proceeded to search the park.  
  
As I wandered around the park aimlessly looking for the familiar face that I had seen everyday for the past three years, my thoughts ventured to our first meeting. It was four years ago that I had been walking through the park, just like today, on my lunch break. Not paying attention to where I was going, I wandered off of the path and eventually tripped over something. After getting up and brushing myself off, I turned to see what I had caused me to fall. Upon looking back, I realized that I had tripped over a very attractive woman who had been sitting on the grass reading a book. Feeling terrible and embarrassed that I had tripped over her and that she had already gotten up without me helping her, I went to pick her book up that she had dropped when I crashed into her. Apparently she had the same thought that I did at the exact same time because we hit heads and the rest is history. Everything had gone smoothly from the time of our accident up till the finding of the letters.  
  
A familiar laugh snapped me out of my reverie, and I turned towards the sound to see who it was. Sure enough it was she, the love of my life. After noting that she was safe, I saw that she was not alone. As I watched from my safe distance on the other side of a baseball game where the local little league team was hosting a game, I saw something that my poor brain could barely comprehend. Not wanting to jump to conclusions or to even believe what I saw, I watched longer. She was flirting. I knew that tone and playful slap from anywhere; I had been at the mercy of them many of times.  
  
Suddenly something made a popping sound in my head. I guess what I was seeing finally "clicked," because what happened next is a vague memory that I regret still to this very day. Something came over me that I was helpless to stop. My face flushed, my muscles grew tense, and I lost all sense of being. Before I knew what I was doing, my legs were walking me across the baseball field. I was oblivious of the game at hand. I had a thought screaming at me. All that I saw before me was red, blood red. I was hell-bent on destruction; it was the only comprehendible thought that I could come up with to answer the screaming sound in my head. "KILL." I was mad. As I reached home plate, I stuck my arm out and grabbed one of the aluminum bats without skipping a beat in my forever-forward stride.  
  
I got closer to where my wife was sitting with the man who could only be Jake R. My hands tightened on the bat as the woman who had caused me so much pain in such a short time turned to see me coming. A look of confusion crossed her face as I stormed across the neatly kept grass. She got up and started to blurt out senseless words when she saw the bat.  
  
"I, I, I. Jonathan, it's not what you think," she stuttered as I came even closer. Her eyes were glued to the bat. "Please calm down. I would like to introduce you to Jake. He's…,"  
  
"I know who Jake is," I interrupted. It was all I could manage to say. The red in front of my eyes was now so red it seemed black. I now no longer thought. I had no control of my body. I raised the bat, and as I did, I noted that "Jake" was slowly moving backwards. Yeah, I thought, you sniveling coward. Keep backing up. Leave your new 'friend.' I knew he would not escape my wrath. I saw the look of fright on Rose's face. She was frozen in place, and she started to turn to run, but it was too late. I brought the bat down upon her skull, cracking it and killing her instantly. Once that was accomplished, I turned my glare at Mister Jake R. He was backing away still, as though this would save his life. He too tried to talk me out of what my enraged and spinning mind was doing. I wasn't hearing sounds at that point. I only saw, but even what I saw didn't make any sense. I saw a man who had no business with Rose, who made me kill my true love, who was going to die, and who was backing up and moving his lips. I was larger than he, by far much larger. I soon overtook him and ended his sorry little life. Jake didn't die as quickly as my beloved did. He was stronger and more prepared. My first swing was off course because my rage unbalanced me. I only connected with his side. After he had fallen from the first blow, I continued to beat his body until I was sure it was lifeless. I then dropped the bat and went to where they had been sitting together. There were papers with her handwriting on them. There were seemingly random words on the page: balloons, crêpe paper, desserts, entrees, etc. As I tried to conceive the purpose of the letters, my blind rage slowly passed. Words became clearer, and thoughts could be processed a bit more smoothly.  
  
Then it clicked. All of those items were found at parties. When I saw the date and time, a lead weight seemed to hit the bottom of my stomach. The date was our wedding anniversary. It all of a sudden came together like a slap in the face. Jake was her brother who, she had told me, had been disowned from her family when she was young. Jake had just started to write letters to his only younger sister, Rose, my wife. The two of them had apparently been planning a surprise party for me for our anniversary.  
  
As all the clues came together, I realized that I had my arms behind my back, handcuffed, and was being led to a police car. I watched from the cruiser window while paramedics covered the bodies of the two people who were, only a short time ago, planning a joyous occasion.  
  
That is why I write this down, so the world knows what truly went on in the mind of this killer. I must now conclude this tale of woe as I hear the keys of the prison guard coming to take me away, as I must die as well. How fast the night flies when there is no morning light to follow. 


End file.
